Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock and three other directors will step down as the struggling company ploughs ahead with an internal overhaul, including discussions on dealing with its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. The corporation - once a Web powerhouse but now agonizing over a range of options to revive flagging growth - on Tuesday said it appointed former Rovi Corp CEO and International Business Machines Corp veteran Alfred Amoroso and ex-eBay COO Maynard Webb as independent directors. Yahoo's board has come under fire from investors impatient with the company's persistent inability to effect a turnaround, and frustrated with the apparent indecisiveness of stakeholders over ...
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has vowed to fight an "anti-business culture" in Britain, warning that a row overexecutive pay and bonuses threatens the country's fragile economic recovery. "Let me say something about the row over bonuses and pay," Osborne said in a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses. "Of course rewards for failure are unacceptable -- and those who believe in the free market are the first to say so. But a strong, free market economy must be built on rewards for success." The Labour Party has heaped pressure on the ruling coalition to curb excessive pay for top executives, using a House of Commons debate to demand the return ...
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Tuesday he is resolved to settle a longstanding territorial dispute with Russia at an annual rally calling for the return of all four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido in northern Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported. "We'll continue to make steady and determined efforts to move ahead with negotiations," Noda said, stressing the need to sign a peace treaty with Russia. The four islands - which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories - has been the subject of a territorial dispute between the two nations since the end of World War ...
Amanda Knox's Italian lawyer has filed an appeal of her slander conviction in Italy, a Knox family spokesman inSeattle said Monday. In October, an Italian appeals court overturned the young Seattle woman's murder conviction in the 2007 death of her British roommate in Perugia. But the same court upheld Knox's conviction for slander — for falsely accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of involvement in the slaying. Lumumba was freed after two weeks in prison for lack of evidence. Knox later said she was "manipulated" during her lengthy police interrogation. An appeal of the slander conviction was filed Monday, Knox family spokesman Dave Marriott confirmed. He doesn't know when the Italian ...
The Dutch railway will remain 'vulnerable' during wintry weather but Dutch Rail (NS) and track operator ProRail did not help matters during the current cold snap by the late introduction of schedule adjustments to cope with the conditions, transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen told parliament in a briefing on Tuesday. The NS and ProRail assumed on Thursday of last week that there would be three to five centimetres of snow. When the forecast was increased on Friday morning to between 10 and 15 centimetres, it was too late to change the timetables automatically, Schultz van Haegen told parliament. Drivers and conductors ...
Greece can leave the eurozone without damaging monetary union, European digital affairs commissioner Neelie Kroes says in an interview with the Volkskrant on Tuesday. Kroes, a member of the Dutch ruling right-wing Liberal party VVD, is not a supporter of Greece exchanging the euro for the drachma, but says: 'It is absolutely not a case of man overboard if someone leaves the eurozone.' The commissioner is very critical of the new Greek government and says they are not fulfilling their promises. 'Too few spending cuts, too little restructuring,' she says. She says the Greeks should follow the example of Italy where the new ...
Mitt Romney hopes his presidential campaign hasn't ignored Rick Santorum's aggressive attacks for too long, as caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota on Tuesday could reshuffle the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Santorum largely bypassed Florida and Nevada to blanket the two caucus states with criticism of Romney and lay the groundwork among conservatives who have great sway in the process. RivalNewt Gingrich praised Santorum's strategy as shrewd even as he signaled he had no interest in exiting the four-way race, which also includes Ron Paul. "I think that Santorum's going to have a pretty good day," Gingrich told reporters on the eve of the caucuses. "He targeted differently than I ...
Glencore and Xstrata agreed an all-share merger worth $90 billion (56 billion pounds) on Tuesday in the industry's largest ever deal, creating a commodities powerhouse spanning mining, agriculture and trading. Glencore, the world's largest diversified commodities tradinghouse, will issue 2.8 new shares for each Xstrata share in a deal they said was a "merger of equals." The ratio is a 15.2 percent premium to Xstrata shareholders compared with its share price last Wednesday before word leaked out about the merger talks, a joint statement said. "A merger between Glencore and Xstrata offers a unique opportunity to create a new business model in our industry to respond to ...
US White House hopeful Mitt Romney aims for another big caucus win in Colorado on Tuesday, as his well-oiled campaign machine works to cement his position as the Republican front runner in the US presidential race. Polls suggest he should triumph easily in the western US state -- where he scored 60 percent in 2008 -- although there is a tighter race in Minnesota, where last-placed Rick Santorum is hoping to snatch a win. Romney's main rival, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, is battling to stay in the race after two heavy losses in a row to the former Massachusetts governor, who ...
As President Christian Wulff remains mired in allegations of impropriety, anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) has called for politicians to use the case as a chance to open up German politics. “We are very concerned that people seem to be starting to think that all politicians behave like Wulff, and that would be fatal,” Christian Humborg, TI Germany’s managing director told The Local. “I think the Wulff affair is a wonderful opportunity for German politicians to react to the cynical attitude that this is normal, and improve things,” he said. He said the fact that the authorities were investigating whether Wulff and his ...
Britain’s Prince William winds up his Australian tour Monday with a visit to flood-hit parts of Victoria as the state government announced more money to help those worst affected. In a trip so far seen as a public relations success, the second-in-line to the British throne turns his attention to people whose homes and farms were flooded in mid-January when the Loddon River broke its banks. Ironically, he could get a first-hand feel... [more]
A continuing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant has spurred nations around the world to review the safety of their own nuclear installations. The European Union reached an agreement to conduct “stress tests” on the continent’s nuclear plants as it tries to draw lessons from the events in quake-hit Japan. Amid soaring public concern on nuclear energy, the EU gathered ministers, national safety chiefs... [more]
Australia has told European countries its model of multiculturalism is “the best in the world”, weighing in on a fiery debate in Britain, France and Germany where leaders have called the project a failure. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said Australia’s assimilation of different cultures was “genius” because it encourages immigrants to integrate as citizens rather than behave simply as “guest workers”. “To... [more]
A federal judge will hear arguments Tuesday on a court order directing Twitter to hand over information on the accounts of people connected to WikiLeaks in a case pitting privacy advocates against federal prosecutors. The court order was handed down in December, but unsealed February 9 to allow Twitter to notify the users — three supporters of the whistleblowers’ website — and give them an opportunity to appeal the decisions. “This... [more]
Singapore, Australia exchanges merger revamped have been expressed, and provide further clarity as to how the merged entity will operate in the future,” Chew said. The Australian and Singapore bourses revamped their merger proposal Tuesday, promising an equal number of directors from each country in a bid to overcome political hurdles threatening the massive deal. The two exchanges also pledged to maintain operations, assets and key... [more]
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday introduced contentious legislation for a one-off tax to help pay for devastating floods which killed 35 people and swamped thousands of homes. The flood levy, to apply to middle and higher income earners, is expected to raise some Aus$1.8 billion of the Aus$5.6 billion needed for reconstruction after record deluges engulfed vast parts of mining and farming state Queensland. Roads, railways... [more]
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would be tried behind closed doors in a “flagrant denial of justice” if extradited to Sweden over sex crime allegations, his lawyer told a British court on Monday. The 39-year-old Australian appeared at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court in southeast London at the start of a two-day hearing. Swedish prosecutors want to question the whistleblowing website’s chief over allegations of sexual... [more]
The tail end of one of Australia’s largest-ever cyclones triggered wild storms and flash flooding at the other end of the country Saturday, while residents in the cyclone zone picked through what was left of their homes. The tropical low that was Cyclone Yasi, which tore through the northeast earlier this week, was active over central Australia and making a series of thunderstorms over the southern city of Melbourne and other large... [more]
Australia marshaled 4,000 troops and sent a supply ship with tons of food to its cyclone-stricken northeast coast Friday, as awe-struck residents in wrecked towns confronted debris that included boats tossed into neighbors’ yards. Authorities confirmed the first death from the storm that slammed into the coast early Thursday and said a search was under way for two missing people. Cyclone Yasi destroyed dozens of homes and ripped roofs... [more]
FORMER tropical cyclone Yasi has crossed into the Northern Territory, leaving Queensland to deal with its legacy of destruction. Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) senior forecaster Brett Harrison said the system, which was downgraded to a low last night, was no longer over Queensland. “It’s out of Queensland and still moving west, southwest,” he told AAP just before 2pm (AEST). “It’s still been producing pretty heavy... [more]
